A Moreno Valley school board member already charged with two counts of attempted murder was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of rape and running a pimping operation, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office said.

Mike Rios, 42, was arrested when Moreno Valley police pulled him over outside his home on Palm Shadows Drive just before 6 p.m., Riverside County district attorney’s spokesman John Hall said.

Rios was charged Wednesday with 11 felonies, including two counts of rape by force or fear of two adults. He is also charged with three counts of pimping and six counts of pandering, which accuses him of persuading or encouraging four women and two underage girls to work for him as a prostitute, Hall said.

Rios was booked in jail Wednesday evening, with bail set at $500,000. He could be arraigned on the new charges as early as Friday.

Authorities discovered the prostitution case after Rios was charged with attempted murder in February. Rios was charged after police said he shot at two men outside his home. The men had followed him there after a confrontation over a woman at a nightclub, police said at the time.

No one was injured.

Hall said Rios used his position as a school board member to recruit women as prostitutes. Rios told one woman he saw walking down the street that he was a member of the Moreno Valley school board and offered her a job. She became a prostitute for Rios, Hall said.

Rios also posted an ad for a job on the Internet. The woman who answered joined two other women who worked as prostitutes for Rios, Hall said. Rios also responded to an Internet ad posted by one of the juvenile girls, offering her his Hummer and house to use for prostitution, Hall said. She ultimately declined, as did the other juvenile and one of the adults, Hall said.

The specific ages and hometowns of the women were not immediately available. Rios did not meet any of the women through his duties as a school board member, Hall said.

In February, Rios fought with some men at Bahama Mama’s nightclub in Moreno Valley. They followed him home in their car and he opened fire. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder, firing a semi-automatic weapon and dissuading a witness in connection with that incident.

Rios on March 8 posted $250,000 bail on the charges. At the time, police and prosecutors questioned the source of the money, but found it to be from legitimate sources. During his bail hearing, Rios specifically asked the court to release his Hummer.

Even before his election to the school board in November 2010, Rios was been seen by many as a divisive figure.

He failed in a 2008 campaign for the Moreno Valley City Council, but later garnered the most votes out of eight candidates running in the November 2010 election for the Moreno Valley Unified School District. Rios promised to shake up the district, which at the time had a dropout rate of more than 26 percent.

He supported a system that rewarded teachers based on ability, not seniority. “It shouldn’t be unions first,” he said at the time. “It should be unions after.”

Despite lacking support from the district’s two unions, Rios garnered the most votes.

Since his election to the school board, Rios has been criticized for flip-flopping on issues and making eyebrow-raising public statements. But he has supporters, as well.

Following his arrest, he was condemned by several of his fellow school board members. His arrest was described as “an embarrassment,” though the school district has not taken any action pending the outcome of his trial. The Moreno Valley Democratic Club has started a recall petition against Rios.

The school district has few legal options to deal with a board member who has been arrested, particularly since no charges have been filed yet and there has been no conviction. But the district’s bylaws do have provisions for dealing with vacant seats.

A school board member convicted of a felony is automatically removed from office, according to state law.

In accordance with state law, a vacancy also can occur if an elected official abandons the office. That could occur if Rios is unable to make bail and does not attend meetings or perform his duties for three months.

Rios’ wife, Dora Landaverde-Torres, is also in jail, facing deportation to her native El Salvador. She was arrested has been held by federal immigration officials in Santa Ana since her arrest in September during a nationwide operation focusing on convicted criminal aliens. She was convicted of a felony drug charge and deported in the 1990s.

The couple’s children were staying with relatives out of town.

RIOS TIMELINE

Nov. 2 2010: Mike Rios is elected to the Moreno Valley school board, garnering the highest number of votes out of eight candidates.

February 12, 2012: Rios is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with a shooting in front of his Moreno Valley home.

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